SeqTrace: A Graphical Tool for Rapidly Processing DNA Sequencing Chromatograms

Modern applications of Sanger DNA sequencing often require converting a large number of chromatogram trace files into high-quality DNA sequences for downstream analyses. Relatively few nonproprietary software tools are available to assist with this process. SeqTrace is a new, free, and open-source software application that is designed to automate the entire workflow by facilitating easy batch processing of large numbers of trace files. SeqTrace can identify, align, and compute consensus sequences from matching forward and reverse traces, filter low-quality base calls, and end-trim finished sequences. The software features a graphical interface that includes a full-featured chromatogram viewer and sequence editor. SeqTrace runs on most popular operating systems and is freely available, along with supporting documentation, at http://seqtrace.googlecode.com/.     

猪脂肪组织表达序列标签(ESTs)大规模测序及分析

利用大规模DNA序列测定的方法,对猪脂肪组织进行了表达序列标签(Expressed Sequence Tag,EST)序列测定,获得高质量EST共7790个,并对此进行了初步分析。使用STACK-PACK软件进行聚类分析,得到4354个基因聚类,包括3609个单拷贝基因和745个多拷贝基因;将候选基因序列用BlastN与nr库进行比较(e=1e-10),从4354个候选基因中得到2712个已知基因,其中单基因为1987个,多拷贝基因为725(3694克隆)个;未知功能基因和新EST有2109个克隆。根据BlastN结果,利用基因组文库添加序号(GenBank Accession No．)为索引,构建了猪脂肪组织已知功能基因表达谱。从基因表达谱可以看出,在猪脂肪组织中参与代谢的基因所占比例最高,在某些方面也显示了脂肪组织旺盛的代谢活性。同时发现在猪脂肪组织中主组织相容性抗原(Major Histocompatibility Complex,MHC)或与MHC相关的基因表达丰度很高。其中单拷贝基因181个,多拷贝基因44个,共计257个克隆,占细胞机体防御(cell and organism defense)总数的44．9％。占总已知基因数的5.4％。提取出全部与MHC相关的EST序列(257个克隆),发现所有EST的部分序列(长约200个碱基),几乎分布在每一个已知猪BAC的所有编码序列上。据此推测,构成MHC的这些EST序列中,有一段长约200个碱基(200bp)的碱基序列高度保守,MHC基因中每一段编码序列都包含有这一段序列。这些MHC序列虽然在不同的BAC上其蛋白的域不同,但均为高度保守区域,并且都与免疫功能密切相关。猪脂肪中如此大量表达的MHC部分保守序列,由于与免疫功能高度相关,在MHC基因的传递过程中,可以反复复制,并能够稳定遗传。     

An Integrated Approach for Analyzing Clinical Genomic Variant Data from Next-Generation Sequencing

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies provide the potential for developing high-throughput and low-cost platforms for clinical diagnostics. A limiting factor to clinical applications of genomic NGS is downstream bioinformatics analysis for data interpretation. We have developed an integrated approach for end-to-end clinical NGS data analysis from variant detection to functional profiling. Robust bioinformatics pipelines were implemented for genome alignment, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), small insertion/deletion (InDel), and copy number variation (CNV) detection of whole exome sequencing (WES) data from the Illumina platform. Quality-control metrics were analyzed at each step of the pipeline by use of a validated training dataset to ensure data integrity for clinical applications. We annotate the variants with data regarding the disease population and variant impact. Custom algorithms were developed to filter variants based on criteria, such as quality of variant, inheritance pattern, and impact of variant on protein function. The developed clinical variant pipeline links the identified rare variants to Integrated Genome Viewer for visualization in a genomic context and to the Protein Information Resource’s iProXpress for rich protein and disease information. With the application of our system of annotations, prioritizations, inheritance filters, and functional profiling and analysis, we have created a unique methodology for downstream variant filtering that empowers clinicians and researchers to interpret more effectively the relevance of genomic alterations within a rare genetic disease.     

A Mutant Brassica napus (Canola) Population for the Identification of New Genetic Diversity via TILLING and Next Generation Sequencing

We have generated a Brassica napus (canola) population of 3,158 EMS-mutagenised lines and used TILLING to demonstrate that the population has a high enough mutation density that it will be useful for identification of mutations in genes of interest in this important crop species. TILLING is a reverse genetics technique that has been successfully used in many plant and animal species. Classical TILLING involves the generation of a mutagenised population, followed by screening of DNA samples using a mismatch-specific endonuclease that cleaves only those PCR products that carry a mutation. Polyacrylamide gel detection is then used to visualise the mutations in any gene of interest. We have used this TILLING technique to identify 432 unique mutations in 26 different genes in B. napus (canola cv. DH12075). This reflects a mutation density ranging from 1/56 kb to 1/308 kb (depending on the locus) with an average of 1/109 kb. We have also successfully verified the utility of next generation sequencing technology as a powerful approach for the identification of rare mutations in a population of plants, even in polyploid species such as B. napus. Most of the mutants we have identified are publically available.     

Development of a Dual-Index Sequencing Strategy and Curation Pipeline for Analyzing Amplicon Sequence Data on the MiSeq Illumina Sequencing Platform

Rapid advances in sequencing technology have changed the experimental landscape of microbial ecology. In the last 10 years, the field has moved from sequencing hundreds of 16S rRNA gene fragments per study using clone libraries to the sequencing of millions of fragments per study using next-generation sequencing technologies from 454 and Illumina. As these technologies advance, it is critical to assess the strengths, weaknesses, and overall suitability of these platforms for the interrogation of microbial communities. Here, we present an improved method for sequencing variable regions within the 16S rRNA gene using Illumina''s MiSeq platform, which is currently capable of producing paired 250-nucleotide reads. We evaluated three overlapping regions of the 16S rRNA gene that vary in length (i.e., V34, V4, and V45) by resequencing a mock community and natural samples from human feces, mouse feces, and soil. By titrating the concentration of 16S rRNA gene amplicons applied to the flow cell and using a quality score-based approach to correct discrepancies between reads used to construct contigs, we were able to reduce error rates by as much as two orders of magnitude. Finally, we reprocessed samples from a previous study to demonstrate that large numbers of samples could be multiplexed and sequenced in parallel with shotgun metagenomes. These analyses demonstrate that our approach can provide data that are at least as good as that generated by the 454 platform while providing considerably higher sequencing coverage for a fraction of the cost.     

FamPipe: An Automatic Analysis Pipeline for Analyzing Sequencing Data in Families for Disease Studies

In disease studies, family-based designs have become an attractive approach to analyzing next-generation sequencing (NGS) data for the identification of rare mutations enriched in families. Substantial research effort has been devoted to developing pipelines for automating sequence alignment, variant calling, and annotation. However, fewer pipelines have been designed specifically for disease studies. Most of the current analysis pipelines for family-based disease studies using NGS data focus on a specific function, such as identifying variants with Mendelian inheritance or identifying shared chromosomal regions among affected family members. Consequently, some other useful family-based analysis tools, such as imputation, linkage, and association tools, have yet to be integrated and automated. We developed FamPipe, a comprehensive analysis pipeline, which includes several family-specific analysis modules, including the identification of shared chromosomal regions among affected family members, prioritizing variants assuming a disease model, imputation of untyped variants, and linkage and association tests. We used simulation studies to compare properties of some modules implemented in FamPipe, and based on the results, we provided suggestions for the selection of modules to achieve an optimal analysis strategy. The pipeline is under the GNU GPL License and can be downloaded for free at http://fampipe.sourceforge.net.

This is a PLOS Computational Biology Software article.

     

Sequencing and Characterisation of Complete Mitogenome DNA for Rasbora hobelmani (Cyprinidae) with Phylogenetic Consideration

Journal of Ichthyology - The Kottelat rasbora Rasbora hobelmani is a small ray-finned fish categorized under the genus Rasbora in the Cyprinidae family. In this study, the complete mitogenome...     

Whole-Genome Sequencing of Individuals from a Founder Population Identifies Candidate Genes for Asthma

Asthma is a complex genetic disease caused by a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors. We sought to test classes of genetic variants largely missed by genome-wide association studies (GWAS), including copy number variants (CNVs) and low-frequency variants, by performing whole-genome sequencing (WGS) on 16 individuals from asthma-enriched and asthma-depleted families. The samples were obtained from an extended 13-generation Hutterite pedigree with reduced genetic heterogeneity due to a small founding gene pool and reduced environmental heterogeneity as a result of a communal lifestyle. We sequenced each individual to an average depth of 13-fold, generated a comprehensive catalog of genetic variants, and tested the most severe mutations for association with asthma. We identified and validated 1960 CNVs, 19 nonsense or splice-site single nucleotide variants (SNVs), and 18 insertions or deletions that were out of frame. As follow-up, we performed targeted sequencing of 16 genes in 837 cases and 540 controls of Puerto Rican ancestry and found that controls carry a significantly higher burden of mutations in IL27RA (2.0% of controls; 0.23% of cases; nominal p = 0.004; Bonferroni p = 0.21). We also genotyped 593 CNVs in 1199 Hutterite individuals. We identified a nominally significant association (p = 0.03; Odds ratio (OR) = 3.13) between a 6 kbp deletion in an intron of NEDD4L and increased risk of asthma. We genotyped this deletion in an additional 4787 non-Hutterite individuals (nominal p = 0.056; OR = 1.69). NEDD4L is expressed in bronchial epithelial cells, and conditional knockout of this gene in the lung in mice leads to severe inflammation and mucus accumulation. Our study represents one of the early instances of applying WGS to complex disease with a large environmental component and demonstrates how WGS can identify risk variants, including CNVs and low-frequency variants, largely untested in GWAS.     

TILLING by Sequencing (TbyS) for targeted genome mutagenesis in crops

TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes) by Sequencing (TbyS) refers to the application of high-throughput sequencing technologies to mutagenised TILLING populations as a tool for functional genomics. TbyS can be used to identify and characterise induced variation in genes (controlling traits of interest) within large mutant populations, and is a powerful approach for the study and harnessing of genetic variation in crop breeding programmes. The extension of existing TILLING platforms by TbyS will accelerate crop functional genomics studies, in concert with the rapid increase in genome editing capabilities and the number and quality of sequenced crop plant genomes. In this mini-review, we provide an overview of the growth of TbyS and its potential applications to crop molecular breeding.     

New Method for Analyzing the Volatiles in Beer

A new method is reported for analyzing the medium- and high- boiling-point volátiles in beer, using CCl₃F for extracting the whole volatiles and then the headspace trapping method with Tenax TA. This method seems to be effective for analyzing the flavor not only of beer but also of other beverages, especially those containing a large amount of ethanol.     

基于GBS简化基因组技术的宽杯杜鹃遗传多样性分析

宽杯杜鹃花色纯黄且钟状花冠簇生于枝顶,具有较高的观赏价值。近年来受道路建设及盗挖盗伐等人为影响,其生境破碎化严重且种群规模日渐萎缩,对其开展保护生物学研究已迫在眉睫。本研究采用基因分型(genotyping-by-sequencing,GBS)技术对宽杯杜鹃老君山(LJS)与大黑山(DHS)两个残存种群进行单核苷酸多态性(single-nucleotide-polymorphism,SNP)位点挖掘与遗传多样性分析。结果表明,通过获得的103 133个高质量SNP位点分析发现两个种群在物种水平上具有较低的遗传多样性(Ne=1.3086,Ho=0.1878,He=0.1856),而种群间具有较高的遗传分化(Fst=0.1765),种群间基因流(Nm)=1.1674。聚类分析、主成分分析与种群遗传结构分析表明36个个体被聚为2个不同的遗传类群。本研究首次揭示了宽杯杜鹃较低的遗传多样性现状,有助于进一步了解其濒危机理和科学地制定宽杯杜鹃保护措施。     

絮凝基因(FLOIG)的序列测定及分析

虽然酵母细胞絮凝的确切机制至今尚无定论,但已克隆了多个与絮凝相关的基因,如FLOI、FLO5、FLO11等[1-3].这些基因的表达可以赋予非絮凝酵母细胞以絮凝能力.酵母细胞的絮凝特性在酿造工业、固定化酶、精细化工和物生制药等领域具有广泛的应用价值[4,5].从一株强絮凝酿酒酵母菌株中克隆到一个约4.3kb的NDA片段,酵母转化实验证明该DNA片段能够赋予非絮凝酵母菌株以絮凝能力[6].本文简要报道对该DNA片段进行序列测定和分析的结果.     

Population genetics of the roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) with suggestions for conservation

The roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) is the second largest African antelope, distributed throughout the continent in sub-Saharan savannah habitat. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequencing (401 bp, n = 137) and microsatellite genotyping (eight loci, n = 137) were used to quantify the genetic variability within and among 18 populations of this species. The within-population diversity was low to moderate with an average mtDNA nucleotide diversity of 1.9% and average expected heterozygosity with the microsatellites of 46%, but significant differences were found among populations with both the mtDNA and microsatellite data. Different levels of genetic resolution were found using the two marker sets, but both lent strong support for the separation of West African populations (samples from Benin, Senegal and Ghana) from the remainder of the populations studied across the African continent. Mismatch distribution analyses revealed possible past refugia for roan in the west and east of Africa. The West African populations could be recognized together as an evolutionarily significant unit (ESU), referable to the subspecies H. e. koba. Samples from the rest of the continent constituted a geographically more diverse assemblage with genetic associations not strictly corresponding to the other recognized subspecies.     

Two Novel Susceptibility SNPs for Ischemic Stroke Using Exome Sequencing in Chinese Han Population

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of ischemic stroke (IS) have been performed on several cohorts of Caucasian or African population and Japanese, resulting in somewhat inconsistent conclusion. We aimed to identify susceptibility loci for IS by exome sequencing in a Chinese Han population. Exome sequencing was used to screen susceptibility loci among 100 cases and 100 matched controls. Significant SNPs from the first stage were verified in up to 3,554 participants from three hospital-based case–control studies. In the initial exome sequencing analysis, rs10489177 in c1orf156 gene located on chromosome 1q24 (p?<?1?×?10^?8) and rs17118 in XYLB gene located on chromosome 3p21 (p?<?1?×?10^?6) were found to be significantly associated with IS. In the following validation stage, significantly increased odds ratios were observed in individuals with rs10489177 GG (OR?=?2.02, 95 % CI?=?1.35–3.03) or rs17118 AA genotype (OR?=?1.50, 95 % CI?=?1.17–1.91). The rs10489177 GG genotype was associated with significantly increased risk for IS in individuals without hypertension (OR?=?2.78, 95 % CI?=?1.59–4.86) and in individuals without diabetes (OR?=?1.93, 95 % CI?=?1.27–2.94). In contrast, the rs17118 AA genotype may significantly increase the risk for IS, particularly for individuals with hypertension (OR?=?1.73, 95 % CI?=?1.08–2.78) and for individuals without diabetes (OR?=?1.52, 95 % CI?=?1.17–1.98) or non-smoker (OR?=?1.59, 95 % CI?=?1.16–2.19). Collectively, our study identified two novel loci (rs17118 and rs10489177) which were associated with an increased risk for IS in Chinese Han populations. Further studies are needed to confirm these associations in other populations and elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying the observed associations.